Rangers had only just got back to pre-season work after basking in the glory of a run to a European final. But before Walter Smith had even got the next campaign started he was signing off on the £9million sale of one his stalwarts to England’s Premier League.
Carlos Cuellar’s move to Aston Villa might have been 14 years ago but Kevin Thomson sees it as an invaluable lesson from history where his old club is concerned, now that Europa League specialist Joe Aribo is on the verge of doing something similar. With Southampton heading the £10m chase for Aribo’s signature, the Nigerian international has been excused from Giovanni van Brockhorst’s training camp in Portugal.
It seems only a matter of time now before a deal is completed which will leave a huge hole in Van Bronckhorst ’s starting XI. But Thomson was there in 2008 when Cuellar was lured across the border. And he is convinced Rangers will recover every bit as quickly if, as seems likely, Aribo’s time in Glasgow has come to an end.
